I recently spoke with William Beckett. The Academy Is… have recently just gotten back together for RIOT Fest and are now ready to kick off their Ten Year Anniversary tour of Almost Here.
Was coming together for RIOT Fest the only reason the band started to talk again, or was it something that was in the back of your mind?
Well; RIOT Fest was always a bucket list goal being from the Chicago area. It’s potentially our favorite festival and I’m not sure if our band was cool enough to get it in the past. But the offer came up and we all got on the phone; Adam, Mike, and I, and we discussed it. The consensus was we really want to do this for the right reasons. Our tour with Jack’s Mannequin, we cancelled and that was not the ideal circumstance. When the RIOT Fest email came in we talked it over and always wanted to, it was like a festival in Chicago, where were celebrating Almost Here ten year anniversary and it just felt right.
Leading up to RIOT Fest how was it like getting back together and playing as a band again?
Initially it was a little weird, mostly just because Mike and I hadn’t even spoke in five years. It was strange in that but as soon as we got on the phone, not to be cliche but it was like no time had passed at all. Then getting in the room rehearsing together was the same thing – a couple kinks and then an hour in, it felt like a natural thing. So it was a little weird but it subsided pretty quickly.
Was doing the ten year tour always your intention or was that something that occurred after the positive feedback from RIOT Fest?
Basically the RIOT offer came in, we spoke about it, then a small Chicago surprise show. That went over really well as well, at that point a bunch of other offers were coming in from New Jersey and New York and other major markets. We once again got on the phone together and talked we all agreed we’re going to do this for the right reasons. We’re not going to do this for any other reason than ourselves, celebrating an album that changed our lives, and the fans. If we all weren’t on that same page, we wouldn’t have done it. But we all wanted to have a celebration of this album.
The Academy Is… is truly part of that 2005 era that shaped an enormous amount of teenagers, did you ever think the band would have this large of an impact?
In retrospect or where it is now?
Like where it is now, that Almost Here still has that big of an impact ten years later.
I mean, it’s really humbling because actually we had no idea what to expect because honestly, no ego, that album did well. That 2005 – 2009 era of bands did pretty well for quote unquote “scene bands”, but for us our expectations in 2005 were just five friends in a basement trying to write the best songs we could. We wanted to get out of our town and not like every pop punk band, but we had a vision for our futures to make an impact doing something that we love more than anything. So our expectations were exceeded daily back then and even now ten years later. This tour is selling extremely well, I never, ever expected that at all. We really didn’t care about all the ticket sales or, if everything will sell out or, how much money was involved. For us it was all about, let’s make this a celebration of this album that changed so much for us. I mean no other album we made changed our lives like that because of that record it made it possible for Santi, Fast Times, and the other EPs and us touring the world over and over again. To revisit it and to play these songs plus additional songs, were not just going to do a 25 minute set, it’s so hard to really put into words. It’s just the feeling that we had at double door and especially at RIOT Fest to see so many people that still care. This record means that much to them that it did to us even now. Sharing that with our fans makes it mean something it never did and something that it could and, yeah not to be to serious about it but it’s a big deal and this is all I’ve been doing for twelve years of my life so this is my life.
Now that it’s been since August since you announced coming back, is there talks of new music from The Academy Is, or will you just stick to your solo stuff?
There’s no talks of new The Academy Is… music. Our main goal here is to just do this tour the best we can and have a blast. If more music does come out of it, you just never say never. If one thing that lovely human being Justin Bieber taught me it was never say never.
That honestly came to my head as soon as you said it and I thought man now that song is going to be in my head all day.
Oh great, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry and now you’ll never be able to forgive me. But it’s true life is an unpredictable journey. We don’t even know what’s going to happen five minutes from now. I’ll never say no I love those guys, we’re brothers we toured the globe over and over again for twelve years so it’s not out of the question but it’s not in my plans. My main focus after this tour is working on new music for my solo stuff.
The tour is starting in a little over a week, are you nervous, excited? Do you have any pre-jitters about tour?
No, I mean the band broke up but I never stopped touring. I kept on going and kept on putting out new music. It was a different approach and performance, I never really had to play acoustic and be up there all by myself. I had to do that for three years recently. Before I was jumping off of bass cabs and somehow not breaking my ankles while wearing fashion boots.
And skinny jeans.
Well that never changed I still get looks at the grocery store because these kids must think I’m such an idiot, but then like I’ll be getting frozen peas and they’ll say, “Excuse me are you William Beckett for The Academy Is…?” and I’m like “yeah!”. It’s funny to be home and when I’m not on tour, and in so many weird ways tour is home. I’m more comfortable on a plane or in a tour bus. I have a feeling the first show we’ll all be nervous but as soon as that first note hits and we hear all those voices and sharing the songs with us, it’s going to feel like it always did or at least I hope so. The Chicago shows I was pretty nervous and I already had pretty bad anxiety thinking “How’s this going to go?”, and “I’m going to try and jump off the cabs and not kill myself”. It’s been a long time but it all came back it’s going to be a blast and we have some really unique VIP packages that we’ve never done before.
And you pressed the album, which I was really excited about.
We pressed as many as we possibly could, considering all the red tape but they helped out and we were finally able to get some vinyl out there so it’s going to be cool. I love vinyl, hopefully other people to do or were going to have a whole bunch of leftover vinyl.
Has there ever been talks of doing some sort of old school Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance tour, and I know that most of you are not on that label anymore, but just the entire family of Fall Out Boy, Panic!, Gym Class, The Academy Is…
Once we broke up that kind of halted things. We all love each other that’s the thing about what we had then particularly. It was us and like Midtown, Cobra, Panic, Fall Out Boy and Gym Class we were all a true family and at that point we never really saw that music camaraderie outside of hip hop. That’s the only other place where that’s actually happening like that, because we were all very different sounding bands, at least for the most part. Gym Class and us sound nothing alike but for us it was about the family. It was about Decaydance, about best friends doing what we love the most. What we were doing that whole time frame I would gladly do it again, but there was something about that time frame where it was happening so organically and genuinely. Nothing’s like it now and I hope one day it’ll happen again to some other group of friends. Nothing can compare to what we had in comparison to camaraderie. We all went on the TRL, we were on TRL, for god’s sake, like who gets to do that?! It was an amazing time and logistically who knows, Gabe is doing new things now, so it wouldn’t happen. If you’re asking me if I would ever do that again, the answer is absolutely.
You know that family and everything and seeing that, even though I was only 13 or 14 at the time. I followed that family on the internet and essentially it did define me and it led me to want a career in music, not playing because I’m not talented but the business side and doing interviews, all of you are the people who have made me the person I am.
Well that’s awesome, I appreciate that and you’re obviously doing a stand up job, but I didn’t do that for you, we didn’t do that for you, you did that for you.
It was such a pleasure to be able to interview you, I’m very excited for December, and thank you again.
Absolutely!
